In Australia a couple of years back there were many pirated PSX games being sold at markets with professional looking labels on black discs. The end product looked very close to the original. So possibly they're popularity with some pirates for PSX games was a reason. Or maybe people just like funny looking discs...Ü

Apparently the black coating prevents the laser from damaging the Playstation system when using pirate cd's. I've asked a few vendors and all have said the same thing. The silver, gold and blue discs can supposed let some of the laser pass through and onto the system itself. Maybe there is some credibility in it. I'm not enetirely sure, but maybe someone else can suggest whether it is possible?

the way i understand and believe is that the black dye has a life expectancy of 75 years. and the disks are extremele hard to scratch if you consider the others which scratch if you rub them with a cloth. i use black media for gbacking up full collections of artist mp3s, but remember not all drives can read this media